In this case, fir, pine or cedar could be used. Not much of a difference.

The techniques are pretty dated in comparison to modern plywood boat construction.

The plywood could be improved on. If available, I would go with a real marine plywood for longevity. Better plywood would also allow you to go thinner and lighter and still be stronger. At least baltic birch or other well sealed hardwood plywood with exterior glue. If you go with the fir ply, you will need to glass the whole thing because the fir ply will check.

Epoxy is easier to work with and more forgiving than Weldwood.

I would also add some enclosed flotation to have something to hang on to when that puppy goes airborne and comes back butter side down.

I have built the Nutshell Pram, a Joel White design. It was a successful outing. Not sexy like the hydroplane.

Boat plans are highly refined documents. You can mess with a table design, but unless you’re an expert, you’re wise to stay with the exact specs of a boat plan.

And if you’ve never built a boat before, and do, I suspect you’ll discover this interesting factoid: Everything else I’ve built has started from the wall or the floor. A boat starts at a point in space. Go for it!

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

Thank you all for your help. This design is decades old and thus the wood choice is dated. One of the many reasons I come to the experts. Yes…that’s YOU! If there is a better choice of wood, you guys would know it. I’ve had suggestions of luan instead of ply etc. I don’t know if that is viable or not.

Also, I wanted this boat to be able to accommodate 2 people. So I figured I would enlarge it from 8 feet to 10 feet and maybe go a little wider. So, if going from 8 to 10 feet is a 25% increase in length, does that mean I go 25% wider and deeper???? I’m beginning to realize why I don’t sleep well!

Changing stuff is a slippery slope. You will always be plagued with adding more here and there.

Going from 8’ to 10’ introduces scarfing plywood. Not that hard to do but another skill to learn.

Lost of times people go length only for enlarging. It does sometimes change the bracing as well. For go fast boats, you have to be careful because you can make things that will trip up the boat and make it tend not turn well or safely.

Glen-L has similar designs that are bigger.

For your first one, I strongly suggest going from someone else’s plans and build to spec. Then start changing to your liking on the next ones. (There will be more. It is addictive.)

You want a go fast boat to carry more people and look good behind a model A, A Bolger Sneakeasy would be sexy.

Building a boat is something that I have always wanted to do and I have two or three very good books on it that I have probably had for 20 years. However, at 61 and with more directions that I would like to take up in woodworking it is doubtful that I will ever build one. I say go ahead and build one while you can. It may be the only opportunity that you will ever have.

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

I can remember that design from when I was just becoming an engineer. I wanted to built that very boat; even got plans, I believe. I changed my mind whan I saw one flip and land “butter side down” on Wheeler Lake.Those things are very finicky, almost low flying airplanes. I wouldn’t dream of getting away from the original design at all; except to use more modern materials.

-- Michael :-{| Don't anthropomorphise your tools, they hate it when you do that.

My advice for anyone in your position (as per my PM to you) would be to seek out plans from a respected designer who specializes in designs for, or at least caters to novice builders. They will give you lots of info that most designers assume that the builder already knows.

Glen-L is certainly in that group.

-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/

I’m gonna go the other way on this one. This spring I competed for the first time in the Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival Boat Building Competition. 2 sheets of 3/8” ply, a couple o’ 2×2s, a stack of 1×2s, a sheet of plastic, a pound of 1” wood screws, a pound of nails, a few tubes of caulk, a few other things.

Add 4 people on your team, 3 hours, battery powered drill drivers and hand tools. And then you race.

My takeaway from all of this is that you can build a nice little paddleable boat that’ll last you for a summer for $30 and an afternoon.

I’ve been walking the same road you are since this summer and have gone so far as to buy a handful of books on the subject, such as those by Dynamite Payton, et al. Out of the ones I’ve read, the best, IMO, is Boatbuilding for Beginners (And Beyond) by Jim Michalak. In addition to being a complete how-to manual sufficient in itself for building a boat, it contains full plans for six of Michalak’s designs. I’m planning to build his 14’ sailboat and his 16’ jonboat, since that is a trusted design on the backwaters around here. After Michalak, I think Gavin Atkin’s Ultrasimple Boatbuilding is the next most useful. All of his plans are on the Internet and are free, I believe. Unfortunately, none of his designs are very appealing to me, but the how-to information is extremely useful. The most technically impressive book is Sam Devlin’s Boatbuilding: How to Build Any Boat the Stich-and-Glue Way. This guy is a professional boatbuilder in Washington, however, and much of what he writes is like the “Fine Woodworking” of boatbuilding. If you were building a 30-foot schooner instead of a weekend fishing jonboat, his book would be more useful IMO. The Dynamite Payson books are good, too, but a little dated. Additionally, in contrast to Devlin who is likely to use teak and brass, Payton has sort of a “throw it together any old way” mentality just to get something built and you on the water as quickly as possible. I’m happy with the designs I’ve chosen for my first-time building, but one day I’d like to build a Tolman skiff.

I’d seriously look through Phil Bolger’s plans books. Look for “The Folding Schooner” his earliest (and no kidding, a 30’ schooner that really does fold and goes on a trailer); “30-Odd Boats;” “Boats with an Open Mind;” “Small Boats;” and “Different Boats.” There is a huge spectrum of designs, row, sail, power, fast, slow, live aboard, sail around the world, sail on the local pond. He usually designs for the amateur builder, give you a thorough explanation of each element of the design, and how it came to be that way, and never fails to point out design limitations. I’ve learned to be suspicious of any design that starts out, “The perfect boat for every use and every budget.” that ain’t gonna happen. He is also a proponent of stitch and glue, which requires no chine stringers where bottom and sides meet. This is a successful technique that greatly simplifies small boat building, and its possibilities have been thorougly explored by Sam Devlin, whose website is well worth a look. Devlin is another who will sell you plans. You might also check out “instant Boats” and “New Instant Boats,” by Dynamite Payson. His plans are all actually Bolger designs, but he is not nearly as entertaining and educational a writer as Bolger is.

-- I admit to being an adrenaline junky; fortunately, I'm very easily frightened